Editors: The event is tomorrow; we would appreciate any help
you can give us in getting out the word and hope you will consider
covering it. Mariana Bitondo Mwisimbwa will be there and available
for interviews.

DURHAM, N.H. -- Students at the University of New Hampshire have
organized a day of activities to raise enough money to reunite an
African family that has been separated for nearly five years because
of political violence. Wednesday, April 27, 2005, is Mariana’s
Day at UNH. The events will run from 3-10:30 p.m. in the Strafford
Room of the Memorial Union Building.

The day will begin with a showing of Lumumba, a documentary about
the life of revolutionary Patrice Lumumba from the time he first
steps into politics in the Belgium-ruled colony of Congo until he
is murdered in 1961, just two months after he is elected prime minister
in the newly independent Congo.

Throughout the day information will be available about Mariana and
her family as well as the current situation in Congo. At 6:30 p.m.
there will be a concert featuring Noise Machine and Sidecar Radio.
Tickets for the concert are $5. All other activities, including
the movie, are free.

The Committee on Rights and Justice (CORAJ) is working to reunite
Mariana Bitondo Mwisimbwa with her husband and four children, who
were recently relocated from the Congo to Cameroon where they have
been living in a boarding house. According to Nina Glick-Schiller,
professor of anthropology, the family has been told they will receive
their visas and final traveling papers this week. They need to raise
an additional $6,000 in less than a month to pay for their travel.
Five years ago Mwisimbwa fled the Congo after being raped and beaten
because her law firm represented a member of the political opposition.

Anyone wishing to make a donation can mail a check to Danny's Team,
P.O. Box 606, Durham, NH 03824.